Santander has introduced that its UK chief govt Mike Regnier will step down by the primary quarter of subsequent yr.
The financial institution, owned by Spain’s Banco Santander, stated it has begun a seek for his successor in a market assertion.
Regnier joined Santander UK in March 2022, with the lender saying, “he has overseen a big programme of change and transformation inside the enterprise, culminating within the acquisition of TSB Banking Group”.
Regnier stated: “It had been my intention to transfer on after 4 to 5 years with Santander, as I’ve different pursuits I would love to pursue.
“Given that the combination of TSB will take significantly longer than this, I’ve prompt to the board that now could be an excellent time to discover a successor who can see this important undertaking by means of to its completion and past.”
TSB turned in £34bn of mortgage lending final yr, equal to 2% market share of the UK market. It has a nationwide community of 218 branches, serves round 5 million clients and has £35bn in deposits.
In the UK, Santander’s mortgage lending got here in at £167.2bn final yr, in accordance to its annual report. It has 444 branches and £183.4bn in buyer deposits.
Banco Santander govt chair Ana Botin stated: “We now have actual momentum within the transformation of the UK financial institution, leveraging the funding and scale of the group in its technique to change into one of the best financial institution for patrons within the UK and for our shareholders.
“Our determination to purchase TSB accelerates our technique and is a transparent assertion of intent in our ambition for Santander within the UK. Mike was at all times very clear about his intention to keep for up to 5 years.”
Santander UK chair Tom Scholar added: “With robust succession plans in place, we count on to have the option to conclude the method to appoint a successor within the early a part of 2026.”
In February, Botin was pressured to deny that the Spanish big was wanting to promote the UK financial institution.
This got here after studies emerged that the group was sad with onerous ringfencing guidelines introduced in after the 2008 monetary disaster, which require UK excessive avenue lenders to preserve these models separate from different funding operations.
